OXNARD, CA – Freska Produce is continuing to expand its avocado program with the acquisition of Oceanside, California-based Harvest Time Produce.

The acquisition will substantially increase Freska’s overall avocado activity and provide customers with more value added choices with its new packing plant in Oceanside. The company will continue packing avocados in its flagship Freska label.

Together with its already established Mexican avocado program, this entry into the California avocado business will also help truly enable Freska to ship avocados year round.

“We see Freska’s acquisition of Harvest Time not only as the perfect fit to our already year round mango program and Mexican avocado program, but also as a way to fill a void with California avocados,” Gary Clevenger, Freska’s Managing Member and Partner, tells me. “We see California avocados as necessary to give our customers choices in our year round programs.”

Formed in 1985, Harvest Time Produce was one of the original 13 handlers of California Hass avocados and one of the original avocado packinghouses in the state, according to a press release. As popularity continued to flourish for this item, Harvest Time made a number of investments for its program to meet the growing demand. Some of these ventures included a mobile sizing machine, which would be used to field pack Hass avocados, and a permanent sizing machine.

In more recent years, Harvest Time installed a larger packing line and bagging equipment to continue offering premium California avocados to customers.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Already a worldwide distributor and an industry leader in mangos, Freska’s newly expanded avocado program is expected to give retailers even more ways to diversify their produce aisles.

Look forward to seeing more Freska avocados with this expanded year round program! 

Freska Produce